Week 4

What do we learn about Liu Ji, soon-to-be Emperor Gaozu, when he kills the snake (54t-m)? After Liu Ji frees the forced laborers, 10 remain and continue forward with him. They report that “There is a great snake lying across the path ahead. I beg you to turn back!” (54t). Liu Ji sets off and kills the snake. But he has been drunk the entire time. This fact has been peppered in the narrative, undermining Liu Ji’s actions. For instance, his declaration, “Where a brave man marchers what is there to fear?” rings differently when the reader knows that Liu Ji is full of liquid courage. Under the influence, Liu Ji does not maintain full control of his faculties. Or, his inhibitions do not match what they might have been absent the wine. This is not just an one-off comment, but part of establishing Liu Ji’s character. Not only does he continue on “a mile or so” after killing the snake “to sleep off his drunkenness” (54t). But he was also “full of wine” when they set off in the first place (54t). We learn early on that Liu Jiu “was fond of wine and women” (51b); he “drank on credit” (52t) that magically resolved itself; and he “dawdles over his wine” (52b). Why does this matter? Drinking produces an altered state of mind akin to dreams. The world is not seen the same way. We are presented with the dream-reality duality with Liu Ji’s birth: his mother “dreamed that she encountered a god” while his father “saw a scaly dragon over the place where she was laying” (51m). This duality is reinforced with the snake’s killing. First, Liu Ji was drunk, an altered mental state, when he killed the snake. Second, we hear from an old woman that her son “had changed himself into a snake and was lying across the road” (54m). Perhaps Liu Ji killed a man, perhaps he killed a man thinking it was snake, perhaps he killed a snake, or perhaps that snake had actually been a man before. The text does not elucidate which, but we do learn that he believed he killed a snake-man who was “the son of the White Emperor” (54m). This makes him “the son of the Red Emperor” (54m), which is why he makes “his flags and banners” red (56t). He does not need alcohol to believe and claim this ancestry.    

How can we understand the shift in Qing Bu’s relationship with Xiang Yu (154m-155t)? First, it is important to note that Qing Bu placed his troops first under Xiang Liang’s command, Xiang Yu’s uncle (154t). Qing Bu falls under Xiang Yu’s command only after Xiang Yu kills Song Yi and usurps control. Prior to this, Qing Bu had already “distinguished himself as a leader of the army” (154t). This capability is what Xiang Yu exploits. Qing Bu does Xiang Yu’s dirty work; Sima Qian observes, “it was always Qing Bu who did the bloodiest work” (162m). Qing Bu is sent in advance multiple times, securing victories and advantageous positions, which Xiang Yu then exploits for his own success (154m). Xiang Yu does not expose himself to as much risk. Qing Bu’s success has been challenging because he “had so often with his small force overcome armies of superior number” (154m). Without such tactical talent and capacity to command, lesser generals would have withdrawn or been defeated under similar circumstances. Up to this point, Qing Bu has been strained in war, but the next two events challenge his character. First, Xiang Yu sends Qing Bu on a night attack to “butcher the soldiers…who had already surrendered, a force of over 200,000 men” (154m). This kind of killing is different. There is no mutual claim to self-defense, this is only slaughter. I wonder to what extent Qing Bu felt that he was being used by Xiang Yu. Once Xiang Yu makes him king, fulfilling his earlier prophecy, he begins to distance himself from Xiang Yu (153t). Though he follows Xiang Yu’s orders to kill the “Righteous Emperor,” he does not do it himself. He sends his own generals to kill him. As Xiang Yu continues to request Qing Bu’s help he twice “plead[s] illness,” sending others in his place (155t). Xiang Yu overplayed his hand and did not adequately recognize how his success had been contingent on Qing Bu’s efforts. This is why he was unable to punish Qing Bu for his inadequate support. This division was exploited in Qing Bu’s defection. But as war is an unstable foundation Qing Bu fell too, succumbing to “the great slaughter of his times” (162b).